Reply to Catania's Statement on Boundary/Feeder Changes

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Reply to "Catania's Statement on Boundary/Feeder Changes"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][b]"I have maintained all along that I cannot support a plan that moves students from higher performing schools to lower performing ones."[/b]

So, "never", as he's maintained from the start.  But he took 700 words to say it so it makes him look smart to some people.[/quote]

Look at this part more closely:

"In order to secure the confidence of our public school families, we must focus on the issue of school quality in tandem with the proposed recommendations so that all our students – regardless of where they live – can succeed.  Among other things, we must work with the community to create open and transparent school-specific quality improvement plans.  Much more work is needed in this regard."

He is saying that if you want to move families to lower performing schools, you must work with them to address the issue of school quality. He wants school-specific quality improvement plans. He will support moving students to a lower performing school if the school has a realistic chance of improving. That's the only realistic way to address the chicken and egg problem of getting high-performing kids into a lower-performing school.

[/quote]

Mental exercise: We maintain our current patchwork system.  How many bushels of "school improvement plans" does it take for another middle school to equalize Deal to the point where it would acceptable to adjust Deal's boundaries? At the rate BASIS, Latin, DCI, KIPP, etc. are growing, will there even be any high or mid SES students left by then? Doubtful. So all he is saying is "never" in a fancy way.

The proposed plan obviously has huge gaps, but the clean slate of 1 to 4 new middle schools offers a [i]chance[/i] for DCPS to do something right from the start. Why not start now?[/quote]

A year is long enough to create exactly what he says: "school specific plans."  Unicorn school actually becomes a school, with an open date, and an address, and a PLAN.  And, to assuage those getting cut out of deal, it should also be TEST IN.  The DME and her fairy-tale advisory committee, with their set asides and feeders that split up some of the best schools in the city, will not stop the charter/suburb bleed of high-quality students (and the funding and invested parents that usually come along with them.)  This plan only maintains the status quo - people going charter, bailing for the burbs or buying into the overcrowded Deal.  Test-in is a such a political hot-potato, but I guarantee if you gave one to every ward the bleed would stop overnight.  THAT'S specific, if Catania has the balls to make it happen, he's got my vote.[/quote]

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